The Real Deal New York

Rockefeller Capital inks lease at Rock Center

The new Wall Street shop that wants to transform John D. Rockefeller’s 135-year-old family office into a financial powerhouse is getting new digs at the sprawling Midtown office complex that bears the dynasty’s name.

Rockefeller Capital Management, which launched earlier in March under the direction of Morgan Stanley veteran Greg Fleming, signed a lease for roughly 65,000 square feet at Rockefeller Center’s 630 Fifth Avenue, sources told The Real Deal.

Tishman Speyer’s 41-story, 1.2 million-square-foot tower – which is also known as the International Building and 45 Rockefeller Plaza – is recognizable by the 15-foot bronze Atlas statue adorning its plaza.

The 15-year deal had a taking rent in the low $80s per square foot, according to CompStak.

Rockefeller Capital will be relocating from the offices it inherited nearby at 10 Rockefeller Plaza when the company acquired family firm Rockefeller & Company, which has a lease in the building expiring next year.

Representatives for Rockefeller Capital and Tishman Speyer declined to comment. Cushman & Wakefield’s Jonathan Serko, who negotiated the deal on behalf of the tenant, could not be reached.

John D. Rockefeller founded Rockefeller & Co. in 1882 to manage the family’s personal wealth and philanthropic interests. The company registered as an investment advisor in 1980, but it never grew to the size one might expect given the notoriety of the Rockefeller name.

Fleming’s Rockefeller Capital Management – which acquired the family firm in partnership with a Rockefeller family trust and the $25 billion Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund Viking Global Investors – has $18.3 billion in assets under advisement.

But Fleming, who’s been staffing the company with a number of big-name hires, reportedly wants to grow the business to $100 billion in assets over the next five years.

Tishman Speyer acquired the 22-acre Rockefeller Center complex in 2000, when it teamed up with Lester Crown’s family to pay $1.85 billion to buy out interests owned by David Rockefeller, Goldman Sachs, Italy’s Agnelli family and the estate of Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos.

Tishman recently signed flexible-office provider NYC Office Suites to 40,000 square feet at 1270 Sixth Avenue, and earlier this year it inked a 300,000-square-foot lease with Simon & Schuster to stay at 1230 Sixth Avenue.